Glossary
Comprehensive glossary of filmmaking terms, concepts, and techniques.
Showing 74 terms
A
4Ambient Light
The non-directional background light present in an environment from all surrounding sources combined.
Aperture
The adjustable opening in a lens that controls light transmission and depth of field.
Available Light
All light already present in a location, natural or artificial, used without adding film lighting equipment.
Avant-Garde
Experimental filmmaking that challenges or abandons conventional narrative and form for formal innovation.
B
5Back Lot
The outdoor area of a studio facility containing permanent or semi-permanent exterior sets.
Background
The area of the frame behind the main subject, providing context and depth.
Backlighting
Illumination placed behind the subject, separating them from the background and creating edge definition.
Bounce
A lighting technique where light is aimed at a reflective surface and the reflected light illuminates the subject.
Bounce Board
A reflective panel that redirects and softens light from a primary source onto a subject.
C
8Contrast
The difference in luminance between the brightest and darkest areas of an image or scene.
Camera
The device that captures light and records it as a sequence of still images forming a motion picture.
Chiaroscuro
The strong contrast between light and shadow used as a primary expressive tool to create depth and drama.
Claymation
Stop-motion animation using clay or Plasticine figures photographed frame by frame to create movement.
CTB
Colour Temperature Blue. A family of colour correction gels that cools tungsten light toward daylight balance.
CTB, CTO, and CTS
Colour temperature correction gels that shift light between tungsten and daylight colour temperatures.
CTO
Color Temperature Orange gel that warms a cool light source, converting daylight or HMI output toward tungsten balance.
CTS
Color Temperature Straw gel that adds a subtle yellow-biased warm tint to a light source without full color temperature conversion.
D
8Double Exposure
A technique combining two images on a single frame, either in-camera or in post-production, to create layered or superimposed visuals.
Day-for-Night Shot
A cinematographic technique in which daytime footage is processed or graded to simulate nighttime lighting conditions.
Dailies
The unedited footage from each day of production, reviewed by the director and key crew to assess quality before the next shoot day.
Depth of Field
The range of subject distances in front of and behind the focus point that appear acceptably sharp.
Diffusion
Material or technique that scatters a light source, increasing its effective size and softening its shadows.
Director of Photography
The head of the camera and lighting departments, responsible for the visual language of a film.
Dissolve
A transition where one shot fades out while the next simultaneously fades in, briefly overlapping both images.
Dutch Angle
A shot where the camera is tilted on its roll axis, creating a diagonal horizon and sense of unease.
F
7F-Stop
A numerical scale that indicates a camera lens's aperture setting, controlling the amount of light passing through the lens to the film or sensor.
Film Grain
The visible texture in photochemical film images caused by silver halide crystals in the emulsion.
Fade
A gradual transition between an image and a solid colour, most commonly black, used to open or close a scene.
Focus
The optical alignment that renders a subject at a specific distance sharply in the image.
Focus Puller
The first assistant camera responsible for maintaining sharp focus on subjects throughout every take.
Frame
A single complete image in a sequence of images that creates the illusion of motion when played back.
Frame Rate
The number of individual frames captured or displayed per second, determining motion smoothness and aesthetic quality.
G
3Golden Hour
The period after sunrise or before sunset when low sun angle produces warm, directional, soft natural light.
Gel
Coloured or corrective transparent film placed in front of a light source to change its colour or intensity.
Guerrilla Film
A film made with minimal budget and crew, often without permits, using resourceful methods to reduce costs.
L
2Lap Dissolve
A dissolve of extended duration where two images overlap long enough to create a sustained superimposition.
Lens
An optical device that focuses light onto the sensor, determining field of view, depth, and image character.
M
3Magic Hour
The brief period after sunset or before sunrise when the sky provides soft, diffuse, warm-toned natural light.
Matte Shot
A composite shot in which part of the frame is blocked during filming and replaced with a separately filmed or painted image.
Mise-en-Scene
The arrangement of all visual elements within a frame - setting, lighting, costume, blocking, and decor.
N
2Naturalism
A filmmaking approach that represents the world as it objectively appears, avoiding stylisation and artifice.
Neo-Realism
An Italian film movement of the 1940s using real locations, non-professional actors, and working-class stories.
O
2Overexposed
An image in which too much light reached the sensor, causing highlight areas to lose detail and clip to white.
Overcranking
Running the camera at a higher frame rate than playback to produce slow motion footage.
R
3Rear Screen Projection
A practical in-camera compositing technique where pre-filmed background footage is projected onto a translucent screen behind live actors.
Racking Focus
A technique that shifts the focus point from one subject to another during a single unbroken shot.
Rim Light
A light placed behind and slightly to the side of a subject to create a bright outline along their edges.
S
9Shutter Speed
The duration of time the camera's shutter stays open for each frame, controlling exposure and motion blur.
Superimposition
The optical or digital combination of two images so both are simultaneously visible, one layered over the other.
Surrealism
An art and cinema movement using dreamlike imagery and irrational juxtapositions to access unconscious truth.
Setting
The time and place in which a film's story takes place, shaping character, tone, and visual world.
Silhouette
A dark outline of a subject seen against a brighter background, created when the subject is backlit and front illumination is absent or suppressed.
Slow Motion
A visual effect produced by capturing footage at a higher frame rate than playback, stretching action across more screen time.
Soft Focus
A lens or filter technique that reduces image sharpness and spreads highlights, creating a dreamy, romantic quality.
Stop Motion
An animation technique where physical objects are photographed frame by frame with incremental position changes to create the illusion of movement.
Swish Pan
An extremely rapid horizontal camera rotation that creates a blurred smear, used as a transition or punctuation.
T
6T-Stop
A calibrated measurement of a lens's actual light transmission, used in cinema for exposure matching across lenses.
Take
A single recorded attempt at filming a shot, from the camera rolling to the director calling cut.
Telephoto Lens
A long focal length lens that magnifies distant subjects and compresses apparent depth between planes.
Three-Point Lighting
The foundational lighting setup using key, fill, and back light to illuminate a subject with dimensional depth.
Tilt
A vertical rotation of the camera on its horizontal axis, pivoting the lens up or down from a fixed position.
Time Lapse
A technique capturing frames at low intervals over a long period, compressing slow processes into fast playback.
U
2Underexposure
Insufficient light reaching the sensor, causing shadow detail loss and increased noise.
Undercranking
Running the camera below the playback frame rate to produce accelerated motion on screen.
W
2White Balance
A camera setting that calibrates color rendering so white objects appear white under any light source.
Whip Pan
An extremely rapid horizontal camera rotation creating a blurred smear across the frame.